Yup. Just make sure not to touch the stripes before clearcoating them. I'm trying this on a junker Voyager OP first.
If you can find it, use future floor polish. That stuff is great! It wont eat your paint, not even the most delicate stuff, and its self levelling and can either be applied by brush or airbrush and you get great results either way.
That's what I use and I agree. Unfortunately I don't have an airbrush so I can't really use it for this. I'm pretty sure that dabbing it on gel pen ink with a brush will ruin the pinstripes.
Hmm...i think that if you use a very very soft brush and use very gentle brush strokes it should be ok. The thing that will muck it up will be the pressure of the brush bristles pushing down onto the ink, but if you are very gentle and use a soft brush you should be ok. Take it very slowley too and you might get away with it. Try it on a small area first, worth a shot.
I'd try some clear coats first. Krylon "preserve it" doesn't hurt silver. a light mist of it over the stripes, THEN clear coating with a brush and future should work. I use the "Preserve it" on my waterslide decals so the inks won't move when I get them wet to apply.
I had an odd experience with striping and clear coats that I'll never have happen again, even though I absolutely loved it. I airbrushed a bass guitar body for a friend. he wanted a comic book image of a Japanimation girl (can't remember who), so I did it in layered colors with heavy striping, comic book cell style. Looked great after the clear was applied. Anyway, we ended up meeting the model for the character at a convention, and she loved the picture and signed the guitar in metallic sharpie over top of the clear. Afterwards, the guy had it re-cleared to preserve the signature. The second layer of clear, for some odd reason, floated the metallic signature and made it look 3D, like it was in front of the picture. Too cool. I've tried to re-create this effect on other things, and just can't make it happen. It's also why I avoid clear sprays, in case it happens again when I don't want it to.
Alright, it seems that gel pen + future is a viable option for those like me who can't use a brush for the pinstripes. The gel pen is easy to control and gives a more even flow of ink. A gentle application of future effectively protects the ink. The picture below shows the results I got from the gel pen on the left vs. my pitiful attempt at brushing on the stripes (with lots of help from a toothpick). I need more practice with the pen but I'm pretty convinced that this is the method for me. Plus, a little sneak preview mug shot of my version of everyone's favorite custom nowadays.
I tried every type of paint pen I could find, they all looked crap. I ended up buying a long brush and cut of 95% of the bristles. There's a few spots that need fixing with a toothpick. Hakka.
